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Vampire Empire series
Vampire Empire series — by Clay and Susan Griffith. Genres and Sub-Genres Paranormal Steampunk * "steampunk vampire adventure romance" * "Alternate History/Steampunk with aspects of horror, mystery, and traditional fantasy politicking" * "combines horror, romance, action, adventure, politics, war, steampunk, and satire with such ease that you don’t even realize you are reading a book outside your comfort zone because it blends so perfectly." Series Description or Overview Vampire predators run wild in this exciting steampunk adventure, the first in an alternate history trilogy that is already attracting attention. In 1870, monsters rise up and conquer the northern lands, As great cities are swallowed up by carnage and disease, landowners and other elite flee south to escape their blood-thirsty wrath. One hundred fifty years later, the great divide still exists; fangs on one side of the border, worried defenders on the other. This fragile equilibrium is threatened, then crumbles after a single young princess becomes almost hopelessly lost in the hostile territory. At first, she has only one defender—a mysterious Greyfriar who roams freely in dangerous vampire regions. ~ Goodreads | The Greyfriar Lead's Species *Human princess with magical powers, untapped Primary Supe *Vampires What Sets it Apart *Much of the world is run by vampires—humans want to take it back Narrative Type and Narrators * Books in Series Vampire Empire series: # The Greyfriar (2010) # The Rift Walker (2011) # The Kingmakers (2012) # The Geomancer (Nov 3, 2015) Shorts, Anthologies and Guides none yet World Building Setting * Empire Equatoria, which is located where Egypt used to be Places: * Alexandria: capital * London: Vampire Capital * Vampirin * Equatoria: the land where Adele is from, a human stronghold * Bordeaux: site of a slaughter of vampires when Clark attacked there * Edinburgh, Scotland: where Gareth had his castle and home * Canterbury: where Alphonse and Nina lived, able to give aid to Greybriar * Marseilles: a free port * American Republic: human stronghold where Senator Clark was from * Tower of London: overrun with vampires * Ireland: where Greyfriar is said to be from, most of the humans were killed by vampires * India * France * Europe * Alexandria * Bunia: The Northern capital of Katanga, where Adele flees to * Cairo Supernatural Elements ✥ Vampires, 'blood slaves', geomancers, leylines, leyline magic, Glossary: * Geomancer: human able to 'cloak' themselves for a time via the strength of leyline magic from the sight of vampires Groups & Organizations: * World Brief: In 1870, vampires rose up to become the dominant life form on earth. This event would come to be known as The Great Killing. 150 years later, free humans, the remnants of the British Empire, are forced into the Equatorial region, the northern countries of Europe and the Americas having been lost to the occupying vampire force 100 years previously. The equator is where vampires refuse to live. ~ Love Vampires Lengthy: In this world, vampires rose up against humans in 1870, annihilating much of the human population of Europe and North America. These vampires cannot withstand warm temperatures, so they have remained in the northern latitudes while the human survivors have settled in the equatorial regions of the globe. As the series begins, the year is 2020, and vampires and humans have been maintaining an uneasy coexistence, keeping to their own territories, except for some skirmishes along the frontier. The vampires in this world are a sorry and scary lot. Although their rulers and government officials are human in appearance, the rest of the vampire population is made up of pale, filthy, humanoid creatures who are totally illiterate and can barely do more than hiss at one another. The ruined city of London is littered with the corpses and bones of the vampires' human prey, while even more humans wander around in a state of shock as they await their awful fate. The vampires have no manual dexterity at all. They must wear cast-off, filthy, mismatched human clothing because they can't make their own. They can't sew, write, run machinery, pilot a ship, or do anything else that requires fine motor skills. The vampires move around mostly by flying; they can take off and hover just like helicopters. If they need to use an airship, a subjugated human crew runs it for them. Wealthy vampires keep Herds of humans as blood sources. Cesare, the villainous vampire prince of Britain, has tricked some of the humans into serving him. He "had the genius to play on the old mythology that vampires were undead humans risen from the grave. He had convinced huge numbers of humans in the north that if they died in service to their vampire masters, they would rise to join the ruling class. Over the last few years, preparing for a war with the free humans..., he had forged legions of so-called 'Undead.'" (Kingmakers, p. 47) Cesare sends his Undead into Equatoria as spies and assassins. That promise of resurrection, by the way, is a total lie, but the Undead are true believers who are eager to die for the vampire cause. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction The Vampires: The vampire mythology is a mixture of old and new ideas. The vampires are a separate species from humans, living rather than undead, but there is some unexplained magic at work too – for example the vampires can fly but nobody scientifically knows how they actually do it. The vampires hunt humans and drink blood but are untroubled by sunlight. However they are weakened by heat and are therefore not suited to hot climates, which is why all the free people of the world are clustered around the Equator. Interestingly the vampires can’t understand or use the objects of human culture – use of tools, writing, reading and art is lost upon them. Not surprisingly free humans regard vampires as animals, since vampires are creatures of instinct and hunger with no culture of their own. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction Protagonists ✥ Book Cover Summaries BOOK ONE — The Greyfriar (2010): “In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Millions of humans were killed outright. Millions more died of disease and famine due to the havoc that followed. Within two years, once-great cities were shrouded by the grey empire of the vampire clans. Human refugees fled south to the tropics because vampires could not tolerate the constant heat there. They brought technology and a feverish drive to reestablish their shattered societies of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama, or the green temples of Malaya. It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming. Princess Adele is heir to the Empire Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. She is quick with her wit as well as with a sword or gun. She is eager for an adventure before she settles into a life of duty and political marriage to a man she does not know. But her quest turns black when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. Her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.” ✤ BOOK TWO — The Rift Walker (2011): Princess Adele struggles with a life of marriage and obligation as her Equatorian Empire and their American Republic allies stand on the brink of war against the vampire clans of the north. However, the alliance's horrific strategy for total victory drives Adele to abandon her duty and embark on a desperate quest to keep her nation from staining its hands with genocide. Reunited with her great love, the mysterious adventurer known to the world as the Greyfriar, Adele is pursued by her own people as well as her vengeful husband, senator Clark. With the human alliance in disarrray, Prince Cesare, lord of the British vampire clan, seizes the initiative and strikes at the very heart of Equatoria. As Adele labors to bring order to her world, she learns more about the strange powers she exhibited in the north. Her teacher, Mamoru, leads a secret cabal of geomancers who believe Adele is the one who can touch the vast power of the Earth that surges through ley lines and wells up at the rifts where the lines meet. These energies are the key to defeating the enemy of mankind, and if Princess Adele could ever bring this power under her command, she could be death to vampires. But such a victory will also cost the life of Adele's beloved Greyfriar. The Rift Walkeris the second book in a trilogy of high adventure and alternative history. Combining rousing pulp action with steampunk style, the Vampire Empire series brings epic politcal themes to life within a story of heartbreaking romance, sacrifice, and heroism. ~ Goodreads | The Rift Walker (Vampire Empire, #2) by Clay Griffith ✤ BOOK THREE — The Kingmakers (2012): The epic Vampire Empire trilogy rushes to a heart-wrenching conclusion of honor and love, hatred and vengeance, sacrifice and loss. A war to the death. Empress Adele has launched a grand crusade against the vampire clans of the north. Prince Gareth, the vampire lord of Scotland, serves the Equatorian cause, fighting in the bloody trenches of France in his guise as the dashing Greyfriar. But the human armies are pinned down, battered by harsh weather and merciless attacks from vampire packs. To even the odds, Adele unleashes the power of her geomancy, a fearsome weapon capable of slaughtering vampires in vast numbers. However, the power she expends threatens her own life even as she questions the morality of such a weapon. As the war turns ever bloodier and Adele is threatened by betrayal, Gareth faces a terrible choice. Their only hope is a desperate strike against the lord of the vampire clans--Gareth's brother, Cesare. It is a gamble that could win the war or signal the final days of the Greyfriar. ~ Goodreads | The Kingmakers (Vampire Empire, #3) by Clay Griffith ✤ BOOK FOUR — The Geomancer (2015): The uneasy stalemate between vampires and humans is over. Adele and Gareth are bringing order to a free Britain, but bloody murders in London raise the specter that Adele's geomancy is failing and the vampires might return. A new power could tilt the balance back to the vampire clans. A deranged human called the Witchfinder has surfaced on the Continent, serving new vampire lords. This geomancer has found a way to make vampires immune to geomancy and intends to give his masters the ability to kill humans on a massive scale. The apocalyptic event in Edinburgh weakened Adele's geomantic abilities. If the Witchfinder can use geomancy against humanity, she may not have the power to stop him. If she can't, there is nowhere beyond his reach and no one he cannot kill. From a Britain struggling to rebuild to the vampire capital of Paris, from the heart of the Equatorian Empire to a vampire monastery in far-away Tibet, old friends and past enemies return. Unexpected allies and terrible new villains arise. Adele and Gareth fight side-by-side as always, but they can never be the same if they hope to survive. ‚ From the Trade Paperback edition. ~ Goodreads | The Geomancer (Vampire Empire, #4) by Clay Griffith Category:Series